whatever you are physically

[Kat approached the familiar boy with a friendly smile on her face, slightly relieved to see that he stomped out the cigarette before she arrived there; she'd never been too fond of the smell it created.] Good day, Frank! How are you today?

I think I’ve been studying for a million years.

Tell me about it. I'm so happy it's finally the weekend.

You're ridiculous.

I think wonderful is a better word to describe me. 

They had to invent to progress in life otherwise they’d still be living in caves and starting fires with sticks. However… I have learnt a little about the muggles and they aren’t as odd as I first thought. [He smirked.] But don’t tell my father that, he’ll kill me.

They're pretty fascinating, yes? Though kind of hard to understand at times. [Smiles lightly.] Don't worry, I won't let a word slip by if I see him. Your secret is safe with me. 

Not really.

That's fine. Do you want to talk about something else or should I just be quiet?

Oh Carrow, you lovely lovely genius!

I try my best.

Don’t worry about it.

Okay. 

Well, here’s to hoping we get an explanation then. I don’t like being kept in the dark. [Not knowing what was going on around her was something Alice couldn’t deal with. She liked to be on top of things, within the know and being deceived about something she cared so much for never ended well.] Exactly, our education is suffering because of this; the headmaster will find that the grades this year are going to be at an all time low if they don’t sort something out soon.

Me neither. [There had to be some way they could continue their education even if they couldn't do it in Hogwarts. It wasn't like Hogwarts and Westwood were the only two schools in the world; they could send them off somewhere else, or just find a separate building close by in which they could take their classes.] If they can't send us back to Hogwarts, can't they send us somewhere else? Like Durmstrang. Or just make sure we can take our classes away from the Westwood kids. It shouldn't be too difficult to find a good solution to this.

No way in hell I am. We’ll just have to wing it and hope for the best.

Great... or we just get something from one of the vending machines and hope there will be something better for dinner?

Wizards are of a higher calibre, better and brighter. The old traditional ways are better, clearly, and these muggles think high-tec and modern is the way forward.

Well, I do think that the internet and computers are brilliant, and the mobile phones are more convenient than owls, but yeah, I prefer our traditional ways - and magic beats everything, really. It's pretty cool that they invented all of these things, though.

They just don’t feel right. [Andre looked down at hand as if there was a pen waiting there to do something.] Quills feel nice and traditional unlike that stupid plastic shit.

Pencils are kind of nice, though, especially since you can erase any mistakes within a few seconds. On the other hand, so can magic, so yeah, quills are obviously superior here. 

Well, if it’s shut off the school, clearly they let it spread like wild fire… that’s if it’s even a virus. [Alice paused, her teeth nibbling at the inside of her cheek. If there was something more to the story, Alice hoped that it would be dealt with soon so that she could get home and enjoy her 6th year like a normal witch. And so that she could get her wand back.] Fingers crossed and all that!

Honestly, I don't know. We can theorize all we want but we probably won't understand it any better until the professors explain it all to us - if they choose to do, that is. They might just keep the details to themselves. [She wanted nothing more than to go home again, and hadn't even unpacked her bags again when it was announced that they would be staying for an indefinite amount of time; she wanted to be ready to leave at any moment. The thought that they would be staying for longer than a week or two set a deep frown on her face.] They can't actually force us to stay here, right? I mean, if they can't find a solution anytime soon, they'll just move us somewhere else so we can continue our real education? Some people have NEWTs this year; they can't just sit around wasting time.

Pens.

Pens have their perks, but yeah, they definitely don't beat quills - especially not the self-inking ones. Also, they're kind of boring.

Go away.

Oh! Right, sure, absolutely. Sorry for bothering you.